My commencing of studies at university in Edinburgh in the middle of the 1990′s was the cause of my being exposed to UNIX for the first time. What was available to us then was a Sun Solaris service and with a pretty basic interface too. That we were using it on a terminal with a two-bit screen was a comedown from the PC technology that was then becoming available to everyone. The scientific computing focus of the system was clear from the range of software that was available: LaTeX for document preparation and Unigraph for graphical analysis, for example. These were a far cry from the likes of Word and Microcal (now Originlab) Origin when it came to the user-friendliness of the interfaces. Nevertheless, we did get NSCA Mosaic and Netscape for web browsing though the speed was far from fast and the screen far from ideal for the viewing of web pages. Even so, the world of the Windows PC shone a lot more brightly back then.
The university’s UNIX systems may have been a let down but there was something about the lure of UNIX that drew me when I spied a version of Linux on a magazine cover disk. Though experiments involving dual booting with Windows lead to a certain amount of destruction, I neither lost any data nor was put off from trying again and again. Not having an Internet connection at home didn’t help my progression in the world of Linux in those early days but gaining it later on was to prove invaluable for forays with Red Hat and SuSE.
Having a spare PC for those endeavours helped too as I soon saw the limitations of hardware support at the time. Foolishly, I was using a “Winmodem” and thus wasn’t able to get connected to the web using Linux. There were other reasons for Windows remaining my home computing operating system of choice too and familiarity may have been one of them. That meant that toying with later versions of SuSE and then Mandrake always remained a secondary activity as did my early explorations of Ubuntu on a virtual machine.
It took a sequence of horrid experiences with Windows XP to convince me to take a chance with using Ubuntu as my main operating system. Little did I realise that sticking on a spare hard drive at the time would lead me to meet no real show stoppers and it now is Windows that is run in a virtual machine with Ubuntu as the host. That’s not to say that there haven’t been problems but the ones that I met haven’t been insurmountable and a large user community that solutions are there to be found somewhere.
There still are spare PC’s in my life and one runs a development version of Ubuntu for me to see what’s coming the next version ahead of time and to be ready for it. Another runs Fedora, a descendant of Red Hat, and that could be what I’d use if Ubuntu ever goes against me. It’s also a host for a collection of virtual machine running different variants of Linux so that I keep an eye on what’s available; knowing what options are available never can be a bad thing.
With that in mind, I have collected websites for whatever variants of Linux and UNIX of which I’ve learned. Linux comes first because of its pervasiveness with UNIX coming next; if I followed chronology, it’d be the other way around but who’s to argue? These lists are sure to grow so I’ll continue to tend them on here.
(GNU/)Linux
If a certain Robert Stallman had his way, Linux would be called GNU/Linux but we’re lazy creatures and we all call it Linux instead. What still amazes me is the number of Linux distributions that there are out there. Over the years, some have come and others have gone so the list is going to be a living one. Saying that, things have looked fairly static over the last few years for one reason or another.However, Debian’s decision to release a version 6.0 on two different kernels (Linux and FreeBSD) has meant putting it in a separate section at the end of the page and, no, I do have nothing against it. Some may feel that Linux has reached a certain maturity but the forthcoming change of default desktop environment should tell anyone technology never stops changing. for those not liking that change, there are plenty of other more conservative alternatives to use instead. Might I mention Debian or even Fedora? Having used both, I would feel comfortable moving to either. However, just as technology may go somewhere that you dislike, it may also improve things and we all know about the transformation from an icky Windows Vista to a celebrated Windows 7. For a time, going to Linux or OS X looked more than sound thinking but things changed yet again. Well, the only constant in life is change and the world could get very tedious without it, even if the unloved ones turn up alongside the more admirable.
A variant of Arch Linux (see below) for those who don’t fancy the amount of work involved in its set up.
Arch has two main selling points for me. The first is that it is a rolling distribution so six monthly upheavals are avoided while the second may not appeal to everyone. That is that using Arch is very D.I.Y. in its approach and that means leaving all the choices to you. In an age when GNOME 3 and Unity are causing so much rancour, that can help to quell complaints because you are not constrained by the choices of others or finding the right version of a distribution. Speaking of desktop environments, be warned that this takes a few hours of your time with Arch and needs another computer so that you can search the Arch wiki for the instructions. The wiki is very good so it’s a case of providing the instructions to users instead of doing the job for them, possibly in a way that some dislike. It is an approach that is educational too and having to work a little for a solid system set up is no bad thing either because you can look at the results of your efforts with a sense of satisfaction. The distribution may be cutting edge but I have found it to be nothing but solid and that comment applies too to software installed from the AUR. Speaking of software installation, this exclusively is a command line process and pacman works very well as the tool for the job. All in all, this is a distribution for the hobbyist who likes to have solid documentation to advise them of their way. Some may think Arch an aberration in a world where user-friendliness is king but I have been so impressed with it that it has replaced Fedora on my secondary home PC.
An up and coming Ubuntu derivative that uses the Enlightenment desktop environment.
This KDE-based distribution started out as a respin of Arch before becoming a full fork in its own right. It retains the rolling characteristic of its original parent while offering more in the way of user friendliness.
This started out as a (very) lightweight derivative of Ubuntu but it now is derived from Debian instead. Was the availability of Xubuntu or even the path taken by the main Ubuntu distribution the cause of this?
Until recently, I did have a PC running Fedora until the appeal of running Arch on there grew too strong after an upgrade to Fedora 16 didn’t work out as smoothly as would have been ideal. It’s the native GNOME variant that I used but there are others with KDE, Xfce and LXDE desktops instead. Over time, I managed to figure out its ins and outs as well with getting a web server working on the thing was made more tricky by SELinux though an acceptable solution was found after quite a search: setting a dedicated user account and changing the SELinux of the account’s home folder was to be the workaround. Things like that are not so user-friendly and Linux Format did say that Fedora 14 wasn’t a beginner option when it reviewed it. Other than the web server, I was able to make it work for me without spending too many hours in doing so. The distribution also is an early adopter of new developments in the world of Linux and GNOME 3 was one of these. In fact, a day with Fedora 15 sold GNOME 3 to me and I even added it to my Linux Mint 11 installation on my main home machine later on.
This has been based upon Fedora foundations but still used GNOME 2.32 in the release that I tried (14.12; 2012.1 is out at the time of writing so it might be worth looking at that based on what I have seen already). It seems to take a more cloud-oriented and more lightweight approach than the distro on which is based. Chromium is the default browser and GMail the email client, for instance. At the bottom of the desktop is a customisable dock that goes to the background when you maximise any application window rather than continuing to take up space as Docky does. It looks interesting so far and could have a home on a netbook though the project isn’t alone in having these ideas.
If I remember correctly, this was the first ever distribution to offer a Live CD version of itself and the innovation has taken off to the level that almost all of its competitors now offer the same. Its creator also writes a helpdesk column for Linux Magazine.
After a few years with Ubuntu, the advent of 11.04 with its Unity desktop environment had me thinking that we were getting what Canonical thought was right for us instead of what we might have wanted. After sticking it out with Ubuntu 10.10, I decided on a migration to Linux Mint 11 over the Easter weekend. That promised more evolution than revolution and seems to be a community-driven operation. Unity was rejected and a more standard GNOME 2 desktop in the style to which Linux Mint users had become accustomed was the offer.
Linux Mint 12 has brought a move to GNOME 3 but it has happened on its own terms. Using extensions, they have made GNOME Shell look not dissimilar to the desktop that which graced Linux Mint 11 or even the LXDE variant of the distribution. This is something at which I have also wondered and it’s good to see someone starting to make GNOME 3 more palatable to those who dislike its standard formula. There is MATE too, a fork of the GNOME 2 desktop project, for those seeking to avoid even the tamed GNOME Shell that is on offer. It all seems rather sensible.
The main distro may be based on Ubuntu but there is a Debian-based rolling version too. That avoids another distinction between Linux Mint and Ubuntu: the lack of easy in-site upgrades. There are two elements in this: pushing the new version and the perceived risk involved. The latter is not so convincing for me because of painless in-situ upgrades to a number of Ubuntu versions. With a change of desktop environment, I can see the point of the former reasoning. After all, there may be some who want to stick with Linux Mint 11 even though it has been superceded. Even so, having to do a system backup and fresh installation every six months of so seems a little excessive and it was a form of in-situ upgrade that took me to Linux Mint 12 from 11. That needed the knowledge gained from using Arch Linux and keeping up to date with developments in the world of Ubuntu. Maybe there is a point in thinking it a risky endeavour after all.
As well as the rolling LMDE that comes in GNOME and Xfce versions, Linux Mint also has an LXDE variant. It is Mint’s lightweight variant and I have it running on my Asus Eee netbook. It works very well and there’s nothing to stop you adding more heavyweight software because it accesses the same repositories as its GNOME cousin. The similarity between LXDE and GNOME 2 make it easy to find your about too and this desktop environment is such a promising option for those wanting to stick with a more traditional layout that you have to ask if MATE is needed at all.
There’s plenty on offer from Linux Mint and its strong community basis is a big help when you see the Ubuntu project taking on some characteristics that you would associate more with Apple. It’s gentler world than one where you hear about people needing to win arguments.
What had me trying this out on my Toshiba laptop was the forgetting of a password for Ubuntu (very silly of me, I know). Only for a hard drive upgrade, it might still be running on there because the experience was a positive one. In fact, it is surprising in some ways that I went for Linux Mint as a replacement for Ubuntu on my main home PC given this. This now official Ubuntu variant is pleasingly lightweight and the LXDE desktop environment is pleasing on the eye, even if it didn’t altogether impress a reviewer at Linux User & Developer. After a little while, I found it easy to customise so as to support my customary ways of working too; adding a workspace switcher to a desktop panel was among these. Its Ubuntu underpinnings made adding the likes of Firefox (interestingly comes with Chromium by default) and LibreOffice quick to do. Now that I think of it, I must go about making it available on one of my PC’s again; replacing Ubuntu on my netbook comes to mind here.
It’s the uncertainty surrounding the future of Mandriva that’s been the cause of this project being set up. Beginnings have been promising so this is a one to watch.
It predecessor, Mandrake, was a trendsetter when it came to taking forward the idea of a user-friendly Linux distribution. However, it has seemed that this distro has been in the doldrums in recent time with financial troubles hitting it. Nevertheless, a recent release showed some promise and there seems to have been a reawakening of interest too.
Though there have been questions surrounding Novell’s commitment to it, the openSUSE project still seems to be progressing. Not only is there the KDE variant that is its standard but a GNOME one also its available. That makes it more interesting for folk like me who are more familiar with GNOME than they are with KDE.
This is an up and coming Turkish distro that seems to be gaining plaudits from some quarters. Saying that, I cannot say that I have given a go so far.
There was a time when this was being touted as an Ubuntu-killer but it never seems to have made good on that promise and recent troubles within the project haven’t helped, especially with a long wait between releases.
A few months back, I decided to give this one a whirl and the GUI is very pleasing to the eye and something tells me that it’d do much of what I’d have asked of it. Well, it’s based on Debian/Ubuntu so there should be no issue there. However, there was one problem that I never got to resolving: it didn’t want to know about a home area set up on a different hard disk. That surprised me because Ubuntu/Mint/Fedora never ever gave up on this way of working; I wonder if SimplyMEPIS has sorted it since my having a look.
There’s a saying out there about Slackware being the only distribution that’ll teach you about Linux. For one thing, it certainly has been around since near enough the dawn of Linux and I remember a colleague at The University of Edinburgh using it on one of the institutions research PC’s. There is a hardcore aspect to the distro so it’s not for beginners and, whatever you do, don’t go expecting any easy way of updating the software that you install on your system. It won’t look shabby but it does expect you to put some effort in order to work with it. There will be some who go for such things but it’s far from mainstream though it does perform a very useful role, it has to be said.
With the storm that accompanied the introduction of Unity in 11.04, it’s just as well that Ubuntu comes with a number of desktops. Though Unity is becoming ever more polished, I have concluded that it isn’t for me and so I have stuck with Linux Mint as the operating system for my main home PC after a few years of using Ubuntu. It was Ubuntu that steered me into the world of fulltime Linux usage after a series of Windows XP meltdowns. In contrast to earlier dalliances with Linux, all of my hardware was supported without any bother and everything seemed to work straight away. Whatever issues I faced in those early months, there seemed to an answer in an Ubuntu forum or blog for my problem even if some needed a spot of thought when it came to their implementation.
With the all of the noise out there, there must be some who like Unity and it always is those with grievances that shout the loudest anyway. Then, there are others like me who decide to quietly look around them when they are not convinced by what’s coming their way. As it happens, there are alternatives to Unity within the mainstream Ubuntu projects. Adding GNOME Shell to Ubuntu itself gives you GNOME 3 options (the fallback version comes close to feeling like GNOME 2) on your login menu so it’s an easy option for Ubuntu users. Then, there’s Kubuntu and Xubuntu with their KDE and Xfce desktops. After those, there’s Lubuntu with its lightweight LXDE desktop and it’s gained official recognition too.
Ubuntu retains its more specialised editions too. Edubuntu is meant for schools as its name suggests while Ubuntu Studio focusses on multimedia needs. In order to get a nicer looking desktop, I did toy with the former for a while before returning to Ubuntu again. That experience confirmed that video and music editing is part of its functionality though they don’t catch my own interest. Everyone differs and we all have our own needs.
While Canonical seems to be learning a thing or two from Apple, choices remain and there are more Ubuntu-based distros than in the mainstream stack. Its open source roots continue to prevail so the likes of Linux Mint and more like it continue to live on for those wanting to feel in charge of their computing.
UGR stands for Ubuntu GNOME Remix and was set up as an unofficial project to bring about a GNOME 3 version of Ubuntu. Of course, you need to prefer GNOME 3 to Unity in order to be bothered by not having the option otherwise but this is a good compromise for now. One wonders what will happen when GNOME 3 comes embedded in the next release of Ubuntu itself (11.10 at the time of writing).
UNIX
The world of open UNIX variants may not be as vibrant as the Linux one but UNIX predates Linux by decades so it might be put down to its much greater maturity. BSD seems to predominate here but the reason may be because of Sun keeping a tight hold of Solaris for so long. Now that Oracle has gone and been more restrictive again, it is the breakaway projects to which we have to look for OpenSolaris successors now. However, the availability of Solaris Express may draw some away from the open source community of the alternative.
Apart from being the basis of PC-BSD, it is a multi-platform BSD UNIX in its own right. It’s like a dream to me that I tried it once and was left wondering why no desktop installed by default in such a way as to start up automatically. However, making you work a little might be the nature of these things and learning to know what you’re about is no bad thing.
Apparently, this is FreeBSD with a GNOME desktop and I was left wondering why the world needed another BSD clone until it came to my attention that it seems to be the analogue of KDE-using PC-BSD. Though some glitches have been reported with the latest release (2.0 at the time of writing), this looks an interesting project to watch.
On the website, there’s more than a mention of clean design and good quality architecture at the expense of being at the cutting edge. On the surface, it’s hard to see how it is different from the other BSD’s but I suppose that I’ll need to give it a try in the spirit of finding out more.
Apparently, it looks as if this is going to be the successor to OpenSolaris now that Oracle apparently has given that operating system option the boot in favour of Solaris 11 Express and it builds up a distribution from the components that Illumos maintains.
With a strapline like “Only two remote holes in the default install, in a heck of a long time!”, you’d have to suspect that security and stability are the key attributes of this operating system. The security aspect certainly crops up a lot so I think that a spot of exploration is in order, especially when a variety of different system types (x86 and SPARC are just two of them) are supported anyway.
This is the BSD that I have running in a virtual machine and not too shabby does it look at all. Suitably for something meant for less technical users, the desktop is KDE and it features Mozilla Firefox and OpenOffice too. If I remember correctly, I didn’t need to work hard to get all of this and it all dropped out from the standard installation.
Multi-kernel
So far, there aren’t many of these but the recent release of version 6.0 of Debian means that I now need a category for these…
There was a (very) long time when you could have called Debian a Linux distribution without being wrong but the release of version 6.0 of the operating system has brought us a variant using a BSD kernel too, at least on an experimental basis. This new technology preview comes under the label GNU/kFreeBSD and could be an interesting thing to try. After all, I do have something of a soft spot for Debian, particularly because it was loaded on a backup machine that was pressed into service when my main home system went belly up on me. It may attract its aficionados but that does nothing to detract from its usability in my experience of using it. Well, Ubuntu did start from a good base when it did. During my time of depending Debian nearly two years ago, I was to find that it wasn’t too hard to make it satisfy all of my needs. If anything, it was using the 64-bit variant of version 5.0 that caused the most work and taught me to wait a while before hopping aboard the 64-bit bandwagon again. New versions of the operating system may not come around very often but that’s not a bad thing when for those not wanting to change every six months. It also has another advantage in its favour as I have discovered when it came to ImageMagick processing of images after Ubuntu became very sluggish on me.